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St. Augustine (354-430)

If I am given a
formula, and I am
ignorant of its
meaning, it cannot
teach me anything,
but if I already
know it, what does
the formula teach
me?

De Magistro X, 23.

St. Augustine (354-430)

The good Christian
should beware of
mathematicians, and
all those who make
empty prophecies.
The danger already
exists that the
mathematicians have
made a covenant with
the devil to darken
the spirit and to
confine man in the
bonds of Hell.

St. Augustine (354-430)

Six is a number perfect in itself, and not because God created the world in six days; rather the contrary is true. God created the world in six days because this number is perfect, and it would remain perfect, even if the work of the six days did not exist.

The City of God.

Sanford, T. H.

The modern, and to
my mind true, theory
is that mathematics
is the abstract form
of the natural
sciences; and that
it is valuable as a
training of the
reasoning powers not
because it is
abstract, but
because it is a
representation of
actual things.

Santayana, George

It is a pleasant
surprise to him (the
pure mathematician)
and an added problem
if he finds that the
arts can use his
calculations, or
that the senses can
verify them, much as
if a composer found
that sailors could
heave better when
singing his songs.

In J. R. Newman
(ed.), The World of
Mathematics, New
York: Simon and
Schuster, 1956.

Sarton, G.

The main duty of the historian of mathematics, as well as his fondest privilege, is to explain the humanity of mathematics, to illustrate its greatness, beauty and dignity, and to describe how the incessant efforts and accumulated genius of many generations have built up that magnificent monument, the object of our most legitimate pride as men, and of our wonder, humility and thankfulness, as individuals. The study of the history of mathematics will not make better mathematicians but gentler ones, it will enrich their minds, mellow their hearts, and bring out their finer qualities.

Sayers, Dorothy L.

The biologist can
push it back to the
original protist,
and the chemist can
push it back to the
crystal, but none of
them touch the real
question of why or
how the thing began
at all. The
astronomer goes back
untold millions of
years and ends in
gas and emptiness,
and then the
mathematician sweeps
the whole cosmos
into unreality and
leaves one with mind
as the only thing of
which we have any
immediate
apprehension. Cogito
ergo sum, ergo omnia
esse videntur. All
this bother, and we
are no further than
Descartes. Have you
noticed that the
astronomers and
mathematicians are
much the most
cheerful people of
the lot? I suppose
that perpetually
contemplating things
on so vast a scale
makes them feel
either that it
doesn't matter a
hoot anyway, or that
anything so large
and elaborate must
have some sense in
it somewhere.

With R. Eustace, The
Documents in the
Case, New York:
Harper and Row,
1930, p. 54.

Schopenhauer

Of all the intellectual faculties, judgment is the last to mature. A child under the age of fifteen should confine its attention either to subjects like mathematics, in which errors of judgment are impossible, or to subjects in which they are not very dangerous, like languages, natural science, history, etc.

Seneca

If you would make a
man happy, do not
add to his
possessions but
subtract from the
sum of his desires.